Originally published February 21 2006
Study of asthma drug finds it puts black patients at greater risk of death
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
In Denver, Dr. Harold S. Nelson, a professor of medicine, allergy and immunology at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center, led a study that determined the asthma drug Serevent, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, presents African-American patients with higher risks for asthma-related deaths.
A large study on the popular asthma medication salmeterol has been halted after researchers uncovered fresh evidence that the drug may pose a slightly higher risk for respiratory and asthma-related deaths among black patients.
More commonly known by its brand name, Serevent, the drug is a member of the beta agonist class of asthma medications, which treat asthma symptoms by relaxing inflamed airways.
"The bottom line is that in a very large study in which salmeterol or a placebo was added to whatever treatment patients already were on, there was an increased number of severe asthma attacks, including fatal attacks," said study co-author Dr. Harold S. Nelson, a professor of medicine, allergy and immunology at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center, in Denver.
For the years 1996 to 2003, Nelson and his colleagues assessed the harmful side effects of salmeterol among more than 26,000 males and females over the age of 12.
All the participants were asthma sufferers already taking some form of asthma medication other than inhaled beta antagonists.
In the year before the study, more than a quarter of the patients had visited an emergency room due to an asthma incident, and 8 percent had been hospitalized.
Over a 28-week period, each patient was asked to use a salmeterol inhaler or a placebo inhaler twice daily as a supplement to their current drug regimen.
In the January issue of Chest, Nelson and his associates report that white patients on either salmeterol or a placebo showed almost no difference in the number of life-threatening or fatal respiratory or asthma-related episodes.
The researchers noted, for example, that blacks reported less corticosteroid use and higher hospitalization and emergency room visit rates due to asthma before the study started.
Dr. Adam Wanner, a professor of medicine at the University of Miami, viewed the study as valuable but inconclusive.
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